2. Chapter 2

"Your father actually forbid you from dating?" Marinette asked in disbelief as she and Adrien finished putting away her groceries. Adrien had decided to put off his grocery shopping until the next day, since Marinette had invited him over for dinner on the condition he help her put away her groceries. He had been only too eager to help and spend some time with her. "That's insane! He does realize that you're an adult now, right?"

"I don't think so," Adrien admitted, folding up the cloth bag he had just emptied. "I mean, I sure it doesn't help that I'm still doing the same stuff at Gabriel that I've been doing since collège. I might have a business degree, but I haven't been helping with the administrative stuff for the company at all and that possibility hadn't even been mentioned at all. It's all photoshoots and commercials and fashion shows and 'being the face of the brand'." Adrien rolled his eyes. "Not that I want to be doing business or anything, but it seems like a waste after getting that degree and all."

"And you didn't apply to work anywhere else, or did your father forbid that as well?"

Adrien winced. "I, uh. Hadn't thought of that. I just sort of assumed that since Father had been talking about me taking over the business end of Gabriel once I got my degree, I would automatically get some sort of job there." He should have looked into that, probably, but then Plagg had pointed out that Adrien didn't particularly like business, so why not study what he actually liked? Maybe now that he was in London, he could get some sort of part-time job using that degree so it wouldn't go completely to waste.

Or maybe he could just focus on getting his physics degree. Considering that his father was paying for his living expenses, that would probably be easier. Besides, his father would probably object if he weren't focusing all of his energy on his schooling.

Thankfully, Marinette didn't seem to be judging him at all. She shrugged, taking the bag from Adrien and stooping to put it away with the others in a lower cabinet. "That seems like a reasonable assumption. I wonder why your father didn't do that?"

"I probably could have asked him," Adrien admitted. Looking back, it was clear that he hadn't really been as proactive as he should have been in applying for jobs. Of course, he had been applying for a Physics program during his final semester of business, but he could have gotten some sort of proper job during the summer months, either at Gabriel or elsewhere.

Yeah, so maybe he was a little behind in this whole "adulting" thing. In his defense, his father seemed to be doing his best to keep Adrien from doing anything on his own and he certainly hadn't offered up any advice like Adrien's friends' parents had.

Once the food was put away, Marinette started making dinner. Adrien pitched in, chopping vegetables like a pro as Marinette started gathering the spices she was going to use for their dinner. As they worked, Adrien found himself hoping that cooking and eating together would become a recurring thing; after all, he and Marinette had become really good friends after they got past the gum incident back in collège and he had really missed her while she was gone. They chatted as they worked, catching up on what they had missed during the months Marinette had been in London.

And naturally, the conversation eventually veered back onto the topic of Gabriel's restrictions for his son while Adrien was in London.

"It's like he thinks I'm going to up and elope with someone I just met," Adrien said, rolling his eyes as he dug into the cooked potatoes. They were fantastic. Adrien recognized the recipe as one of Alya's, which made him guess that Marinette had probably gotten the same lessons he had, or at the very least she had gotten the recipes. She probably already knew how to cook, considering her uncle and all. "Which is ridiculous, I wouldn't..."

He trailed off. Well. Actually, now that he thought about it, that wasn't an awful idea. Not getting married for real, obviously, but faking it for just long enough to make people believe him. The thought of how much his father would freak out made him snicker to himself.

(He might have been spending a little too much time with Plagg. The little cat kwami was a bad influence.)

"You wouldn't...?" Marinette prompted when Adrien didn't say anything. She raised her eyebrows when Adrien still didn't respond and then she suddenly frowned as she caught on to his train of thought. "Adrien, you wouldn't. There's all sorts of legal red tape you would have to deal with to get married, and then if you get divorced afterwards-"

"I wouldn't for real," Adrien assured Marinette hastily before she could really start freaking out. "Just a fake wedding. I don't know how that would work, exactly, but I would just need some photos and someone to be a fake 'bride'."

Marinette groaned, worried expression immediately turning exasperated. "Adrien..."

Adrien gave her his best kitten eyes to try to win her over. It had worked in the past, but Marinette still didn't seem convinced. "It would be funny."

"You're going to get your dad coming over and hauling you back to Paris."

"I'm an adult. He legally can't withdraw my enrolment at the university, and he's already paid for the first semester. I have enough money saved up from modeling to pay for the rest and for housing, and I can always got a part-time job while I'm studying." Maybe he was being a bit immature, but the fact that his father was still insisting on treating him like a child even though Adrien was nearly twenty-two was irritating. He wasn't about to do anything stupid. And of course, not being trusted not to do anything stupid made Adrien want to be stupid. And if he was being stupid, he might as well go big. And because he didn't want to screw up his reputation or his future permanently, a fake wedding was the best way to go.

Now he just had to persuade Marinette of that, or go find someone on the street to cooperate with him.

Marinette groaned again, slumping onto the table and burying her face in her hands. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm rebelling."

"How exactly are you planning on going about getting a fake wedding?" Marinette asked with an exasperated sigh after another pause. She was sitting with her arms crossed, but Adrien knew her well enough to notice the twinkle of amusement in her eyes and the way her mouth curved up at the corners. She might pretend to be the reasonable one, but she was just as amused by the idea as he was.

"Well," Adrien said slowly, trying to think. He had been to weddings before, of course, but they were big affairs for friends of his father or obscure relatives or something that Chloe dragged him to. They involved a whole lot of ridiculous extra bells and whistles. "Uh... in weddings, there's a bride and a groom-"

Marinette giggled. Adrien pretended to glare at her.

"-which I think we have covered, if you're willing to play along with this," Adrien said, suddenly realizing that he hadn't actually asked Marinette yet. He glanced over at Marinette, hoping that she wouldn't be averse to the idea.

"Sure, I'll be your groom," Marinette said with a perfectly straight face. "Are you going to wear a white dress? I'm not sure it'll work with your complexion."

"Ha, ha," Adrien deadpanned back. "But in all seriousness, how much do we want to dress up? I don't want to spend too much money setting stuff up. Besides, too much of a fuss and the press will be all over us and my father will actually kill me."

"I have a nice dress I can wear," Marinette assured him. "We can just wear decently nice clothes and go to a courthouse and pose with an officiant there. Maybe we should pick up fake rings somewhere, so we can have, like, a ring-exchanging picture-"

"Okay, stupid question, maybe, but what makes a wedding official?" Adrien asked, biting his lip. He had come to the sudden realization that he really didn't know as much about weddings as he maybe should if he was going to do this. "Like, I don't want to accidentally get real-married just as a joke."

Marinette snorted. "Yeah, your father would never let you out of his sight again. Or maybe he would reassign Nathalie to follow you around 24/7." She bit her lip to (unsuccessfully) try to smother another snort before she considered Adrien's question. "I think there's some documents you need to have- a marriage license, for one. We wouldn't have one, obviously, but if you really wanted to freak your dad out, we could take a picture of us pretending to sign something."

Adrien grinned and held his fist out for her to bump. She did so with a grin. "I like how you think, partner. This is going to be great. Does getting married tomorrow work for you?"

The next morning found the two of them in the grocery store, doing a quick stock-up of Adrien's food supply before they headed to the courthouse. Marinette had kindly loaned Adrien her bags so that he wouldn't have to worry about getting some of his own right away ("You'll probably get a bunch at student orientations anyway," Marinette had said, "and if not, well, it's easy enough to buy a few later on.") and they had headed off, certain that with two of them chipping away at the list, it wouldn't take too long.

It was taking too long.

"At least normal shopping trips should go faster," Adrien sighed as he turned around once again to head back up an aisle he had already gone through. He hadn't organized his list very well, which meant that there was a lot of backtracking to get things that they had missed. Hopefully it would speed things up once he was more familiar with the layout of the store. "How did your conversation with your parents go this morning?"

"They were pretty amused, I think," Marinette said, grinning. After she and Adrien had laid down some details on how they were going to fake the marriage so it would be believable, Marinette had decided to give her parents a heads-up so that they wouldn't freak out (being freaked out lead to distraction while baking, Marinette had said, and distractions while baking lead to mistakes and injuries; besides, her father had promised to post some sappy comments about being proud of them for getting married once they posted the photos online, just to further confuse everyone). She had called before they headed out, when the bakery would be in the middle of a lull. "I don't think my father stopped laughing for five minutes after I told them. He wants copies of the photos. They also suggested having a couple of my coworkers come and act as bridesmaids and groomsmen."

Adrien snorted as he perused the spice rack. Salt and pepper went into his cart first. "Your parents are awesome. I'm glad I'm getting them as fake in-laws."

"They said we needed to get a picture with the cake, even if it's just a plain one." Marinette grinned. "They're really amused by it. I get the feeling that they've been wanting to plan a wedding for quite some time."

"Who's getting married?"

Marinette and Adrien both yelped as a new voice inserted itself into their conversation. They whipped around as one, Adrien holding his canister of dried basil out like a weapon, and came face-to-face with Madam Rosalie.

"Oh, you scared me," Marinette breathed, one hand still on her heart. Madam Rosalie laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, but I saw the two of you over here and just had to pop over and say hi. I'm glad you two already met. So who's getting married?"

Marinette glanced over at Adrien with a clear how do you know her? expression on her face. With a guilty start, Adrien realized that he had figured out pretty early on that Marinette was the intern Madam Rosalie had been referring to, but he had never mentioned her to Marinette. As far as his friend knew, Adrien should be a complete stranger to her boss.

"Madam Rosalie is a friend of my father's," Adrien explained to Marinette as he tossed the basil into his cart. "They've known each other for years."

"Ah."

"And, uh..." Adrien thought fast, trying to decide whether or not Madam Rosalie could be trusted with their plan. She might think that it was stupid and tell his father, but on the other hand, she and Adrien's mother had gotten up to some crazy things themselves when they were in school. She would probably have more ideas for them to make the wedding seem more real. But he couldn't help but tease her a little first. With a wide grin, he reached over and took Marinette's hand. "And actually, Marinette and I are getting married. Today."

The effect was instant. Madam Rosalie's eyes bugged out and her jaw worked wordlessly as she stared at them. After a minute, she finally found her words.

"You just met, what? Yesterday? Today? You can't just up and get married to someone you just met, that's absolutely insane. I thought you two were smarter than this-"

Then Madam Rosalie stopped quite suddenly and peered at them suspiciously. After a moment she straightened up, earlier panic completely gone. "You're just pretending to, aren't you. To freak out your dad."

Adrien groaned, letting go of Marinette's hand. Really? Busted already? "We're that predictable?"

Madam Rosalie shook her head. "Oh, no, not at all. It's just that I know what newly-in-love couples look like, and you two didn't quite manage that. I'm sure you'll be better at acting later today, though, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Marinette said quickly. "And we were just planning on getting photos taken, so we can redo them if we don't look mushy enough."

Madam Rosalie let out a bark of laughter. "You two, really. How did Adrien already manage to rope you into his schemes?"

"We've known each other since collège," Marinette admitted, looking a little sheepish. "And we didn't realize that we would both be in the same part of London, much less the same building- and across the hall from each other, even!"

"Oh, that's convenient. You already have a friend in the city!" Madam Rosalie looked absolutely thrilled as she patted Adrien's shoulder. "Of course, you can't let that get in the way of you practicing your English and making friends here."

"We won't," Adrien assured her. Really, he shouldn't be speaking for Marinette, but she had been in London for months already. Surely she had made some local friends already. Marinette was incredibly kind and outgoing so unless she had been absolutely swamped by work, she had probably made a dozen friends already.

"Good." Madam Rosalie looked pleased by his response for a moment before the focused look returned to her face. "So you said something earlier about a fake wedding?"

"Ah...yeah." Adrien bit his lip nervously as he tried to think of how best to explain the whole situation. "So my dad kept telling me all the things I wasn't allowed to do when I was in London, and one of the things he forbid was dating, so, uh-"

"So you decided to go straight to getting married instead," Madam Rosalie finished. She laughed. "Okay, that's hilarious. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he hears about it. So what had you planned so far?"

By the time they finished their shopping, Madam Rosalie had been caught up on all of their plans. She was amused, but she thought they could do better. Way better.

"I have a wedding dress that I designed and just finished that you can wear for the day," she told Marinette. "And of course, I have a few tuxedos on hand. One of them is bound to fit you, Adrien." She grinned, all pumped up about being involved in their prank. "And I have some gorgeous prop rings that you could borrow for the ceremony, they're even your style, I think. And oh, I know a minister-"

And from there it just exploded.

Almost all of the staff and interns that Madam Rosalie called up jumped on the chance to prank the Gabriel Agreste. They all piled into the Rosalie Fashions building to try out the suits and dresses that Madam Rosalie wanted to use to find out who fit in the pieces with minimal adjustment. Those who wore the pieces best would be standing in as makeshift bridesmaids and groomsmen. A few interns that normally worked with the photographers during photoshoots brought along several cameras and a video recorder to catch the whole thing on tape. Someone trotted off to get Madam Rosalie's minister friend, who came in dressed in full garb. By mid-afternoon, Madam Rosalie was herding them to a private part of a botanical garden, which she had managed to procure by calling in a favor from the owner of the garden.

Adrien was of the opinion that Madam Rosalie knew half of London. She really was able to call in all sorts of favors, all for one little prank.

"You have to go big or go home," was all she said when Adrien and Marinette protested how much trouble everyone was going to just for them. "Besides, your mother would have found this hilarious."

Adrien couldn't argue with that. His mother probably would have jumped on board to help plan the prank, even if the intended target was his father.

Especially if the intended target was his father. She was just awesome like that.

"All right, I want you three arranged up front," Madam Rosalie ordered, pointing to the three assigned "groomsmen" who were milling around the gorgeous private garden. They were all dressed in identical suits from her newest collection. She waved one of the photography interns forward. "Arthur, arrange them. Adrien, Chris, you join them."

"This is certainly looking very realistic," Chris, the minister, told Adrien as they found themselves being steered into position in front of the vine-covered trellis. From their position, they could see the majority of the private garden around them. Most of the flowers were long since gone, since it was fall, but the area was still gorgeous. The gardeners had picked out plants that had interesting-looking leaves to keep the area beautiful once summer was over, and some had a purplish hue to them to break up the green and grey of the plants and stone walls around them. During an actual wedding, the area would probably be filled with rows upon rows of folding chairs, but right now it was rather sparse. That didn't mean that it wasn't busy, though. Madam Rosalie was steering the bridesmaids and Marinette into a line and checking that everyone else was in position and not accidentally going to show up in the video.

From Adrien's point of view, the setup certainly didn't look like a particularly realistic wedding. It looked far more like a photoshoot in the middle of being staged.

Of course, that was kind of what it was. A photoshoot, or perhaps a movie. Looking towards the front of the garden, it probably did look much more like an actual wedding, and that was what counted in the end.

"Does it really?"

The minister was grinning as he watched everyone being steered into position by a very much in charge Madam Rosalie. "I've officiated more than a couple rush weddings in my time. Some of them looked almost just like this."

Adrien's eyebrows shot up. He had figured that between the designer outfits, the location, and the other details that had fallen into place, the element of believability might have been completely lost. "Really?"

Chris laughed at the look on Adrien's face. "You don't believe me? I'm not saying that all rush weddings are this nice. They vary, just like the weddings that take months to plan. I've seen everything from people dressed in sundresses and shorts all the way to one couple who had rented the most fancy wedding dress and tux I've ever seen."

"For a rush wedding that their family didn't even come to?"

"Oh, no, their family came!" Chris assured him quickly. "Immediate family, that is. They had a very large extended family that they didn't want to deal with and they didn't have the budget for but they still wanted a fancy wedding, so they threw everything together in the two days after they got engaged and had the gorgeous, but very small wedding that they had always wanted."

"They must have had some plans in place before they did they got engaged then, right?" The mere idea of even trying to plan and pull off a wedding in two days gave him a headache. His and Marinette's original simple plan had been hard enough to plan out already in such a small timeframe, and that was with as few bells and whistles as possible and without the added hassle of inviting guests and having a reception afterwards. Somewhat subconsciously, Adrien found himself taking notes on all of the moving parts there seemed to be to a wedding. After all, he would presumably be doing this again for real someday and it would be good to be prepared- unless, of course, he just decided to elope. But no matter how tempting the idea was after all this, he wasn't entirely positive that his father wouldn't disown him if he actually did elope. "Don't things like flowers and cake normally have to be ordered months in advance?"

Chris laughed. "Enough bouquets to decorate an entire room and a large enough cake to feel dozens of guests have to be ordered way in advance, yes. But small arrangements like Marinette's and a cake for twenty people can be done in a heartbeat. I'll admit, it's easier for people like Madam Rosalie who have all sorts of connections, but it's fully possible."

"All right, places!" Arthur yelled from where he was standing next to one of his tripods. He had set several up so that they could get photos from several different angles. "Benny, start recording, if you please. Ellen, the music. Adrien, look like you've fallen head over heels in love with Marinette. I want lovesick! Just a normal smile won't do- perfect! All right, let's go!"

Adrien threw himself into the role of a lovesick man. He pasted the most dopy in-love expression that he could make on his face for the entire ceremony, and Marinette did the same. There were a few small bumbles, as there were bound to be without a proper prior rehearsal, but in Adrien's mind, that just added to the authenticity. Marinette played the shy yet lovestruck bride role well, and she definitely looked gorgeous in the nontraditional blue wedding dress that Madam Rosalie had procured. It was gorgeous but not too fancy, which suited both Marinette's style and the location well. The hairstyle that Madam Rosalie had chosen for her framed Marinette's face nicely, and the hairpiece that they had picked out absolutely shone against Marinette's dark hair. Adrien could definitely see Marinette dressing up in something similar when she got married for real.

"You look amazing, Marinette," Adrien murmured in her ear during a small pause in the ceremony. His grin turned even more genuine as he saw her blush. She didn't have time to respond, though, before they started the vows. They were pretty standard, since they didn't have time to think up their own and besides, they didn't want to say anything that would give away the fact that they had known each other for years. It was best to keep things short, sweet, vague, and ridiculously sappy. The interns that Madam Rosalie had put in charge of coming up with the vows while everyone else got their hair and makeup done had clearly had loads of fun going absolutely over the top.

And then it was time for the kiss.

Adrien's heart almost stopped as the pastor looked at the two of them expectantly. He had forgotten about that particular part of the ceremony. How, he didn't know, considering that it was only the most important part ever or at least the part that everyone seemed to look forward to the most. He hadn't even asked Marinette if she was okay with kissing him, though maybe he should assume that she would be fine considering that she had agreed to the "wedding" in the first place and the photos that they would have taken with the ceremony that they had planned originally would have more likely than not included a kiss. Besides, Marinette was looking up at him expectantly. There was no way to misinterpret that look as reluctance and he definitely wasn't against kissing Marinette.

Decided, Adrien stepped forward to close the gap between himself and Marinette and, with only an impish grin as warning, he dipped her and planted a lingering kiss on her lips.

As soon as the ceremony proper was over, Chris guided them towards a small table that had been set up on the side. The minister had procured a fancy-looking piece of paper for them to sign in place of a marriage license, and it took all of Adrien's strength not to snicker at the "bla bla bla"s that filled the paper where the legal mumbo-jumbo would usually go. Marinette signed first on the line, and then she handed the pen over to Adrien. He pressed a kiss to her cheek before taking the pen from her and signing as well.

"That was fantastic," Madam Rosalie exclaimed as soon as they were finished signing and the cameras had stopped rolling for a moment. "If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that you two were getting married for real. If your father isn't fooled, Adrien, then it'll be a miracle."

"Your coaching earlier was incredibly helpful," Adrien said humbly, remembering how- well, not awkward, really, just stilted- the two of them had been before Madam Rosalie pulled them aside for some coaching while everyone else got dressed. He beamed at Marinette. "And Marinette was amazing. I don't think I would have been able to pull that off with anyone else."

Madam Rosalie looked strangely smug at his words. Marinette turned pink.

"All right, almost done!" Arthur interrupted them. He waved his camera at them. "It's time for the photos! First, I want all of the bridesmaids and the bride, and then after that I'll want the groomsmen and the groom. Then it'll be a few group photos."

Marinette beamed at Adrien and then moved off to join the other girls arranging themselves at the front of the garden, in front of the few still blooming flowers in the garden. Adrien watched her go, letting himself enjoy watching the way her dress swished over the grass. Marinette was a natural at this, really. He wouldn't be surprised if she was asked to model more in the future.

"If I'm not needed in any of the photos, then I should go," Chris announced, checking his watch before glancing around again. "I have some things I still need to get together for this Sunday. It's been great meeting all of you," he added, shaking Adrien's hand. He lowered his voice. "And feel free to call me up when you and that young lady get married for real. I'd be happy to officiate."

Then, before Adrien could respond, he was gone.

"Now the groom and the groomsmen!" called Arthur. "Come on, come on, we don't have all day! We're going to lose the best light soon! We'll do the cake-cutting after this."

"Is something the matter, Adrien?" Madam Rosalie asked when Adrien made no move to join the others. She followed his gaze curiously, but Chris was already gone. "Adrien?"

"Sorry, sorry, just zoned out for a minute," Adrien said hurriedly, quickly heading up to where the other guys were being arranged by the photographer. When he and Marinette got married for real? Either Chris hadn't been given the right story by Madam Rosalie or he had read too far into Adrien and Marinette's acting and thought that the chemistry was really there. There was no reason to overthink the minister's remark. Maybe the guy was a romantic at heart. If he officiated a lot of weddings, that definitely was a strong possibility.

Adrien let Arthur guide him into position and automatically posed for several photos, following Arthur's directions without having to think about it too much. The entire "wedding party" piled together for another series of photos, and Arthur hummed in pleasure as the group posed naturally. He and Marinette threw themselves into their roles again, gazing at each other with hearts all but floating out of their eyes. As soon as that was done, the whole group piled over to where a rather simple wedding cake was sitting on a folding table (covered, of course, by lacy white linen snitched from Madam Rosalie's collection) so that Adrien and Marinette could cut the cake and hand it out. They posed for a few photos during that, too, since Madam Rosalie insisted that it was tradition.

"All right, I'll get these and the video on a USB drive for you," Arthur said, reviewing the photos on his camera. "One last photo everyone, I want a group picture to remember this by!"

Adrien grinned as everyone who had helped out, from their false bridesmaids and groomsmen to the owner of the garden, set their cake aside to pile together with him and Marinette. He had already made several friends from the group, even though they had been insanely busy getting everything ready. Marinette had already promised to bake another cake for them all to have later in the week as thanks for all of their help, and Adrien was trying to figure out if he could cook a meal to go along with it or if it would be too hard to cook for so many people. He was rather inclined to think that it would be too hard to do. Maybe he should just bring some drinks and extra dishes for everyone to use.

"Are you telling your friends back home?" their second bridesmaid- Lynsey, Adrien was pretty sure she was called- asked. "I mean, I know Marinette said she told her parents. But your friends- Alya and Nino, I think?- do they know that it's a prank?"

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look. They hadn't really thought about it, though they definitely should have. Adrien was tempted not to, just because Nino and Alya's reactions would be hilarious. They would probably freak out in very loud unison.

"Let's not," Marinette said after a moment, clearly having the same train of thought as Adrien. "I want to see how much Alya freaks out. Besides, if too many people seem to know about it, it starts to look planned instead of a spontaneous 'we just decided to do this'."

Adrien held out his fist for her to bump. "Great minds think alike. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall when they see our posts." He grinned. "It would be absolutely hilarious."

A/N: Next time: the fallout :D

If there's any British people out there screaming at the screen "THEY'RE CALLED FLATS NOT APARTMENTS IN LONDON!" I would like to say- yes, yes, I know, I lived in a flat in New Zealand when I did a study abroad. I'm very aware that they're called flats in London. But the French word for it is super-similar to "apartment" ("appartement") and Adrien and Marinette would probably be speaking in French, so I just used that instead.

...also I couldn't figure out what a building of flats was called, whereas "apartment building" is nice and straightforward. That might have played a small role in my decision.

Please review, it really makes my day!